Criminal Recidivism in Sexual Homicide Perpetrators

• NCJ Number: 221301
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 5-20
• Author(s): Andreas Hill; Niels Habermann; Dietrich Klusmann; Wolfgang Berner; Peer Briken
• Date Published: February 2008
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The study examined criminal recidivism in sexual homicide perpetrators in Germany.

Abstract

The study found that sexual and nonsexual violent recidivism rates after 6 years’ time at risk was 12 percent; reconviction rates for sexual offenses were 24.6 percent, and 21.7 percent for violent offenses. Most of the violent recidivism occurred during the first 5 years after release, the risk for sexual reoffenses continued for much longer periods. Results indicate the need to extend postrelease relapse prevention strategies, treatment, support, and parole supervision over long periods to reduce the risk of sexual reoffending. A young age at the time of the first sexual homicide often resulted in lower sentences, reflecting special legal standards in the German penal code for adolescent offenders, and, in general, young offenders (under 21) with maximum prison sentences of 10 years. Young age at the index offense was the only risk factor associated with increased chances of being released and, therefore, increased opportunity to reoffend; young age at the Index offense, besides a detention of fewer than 15 years, was the only factor resulting in significantly higher sexual recidivism rates in released offenders. In contrast, nonsexual violent recidivism was linked to several of the investigated risk factors, such as previous sexual and nonsexual violent delinquency, psychopathic symptoms, and higher scores in the HCR-20 and the SVR-20 risk assessment tools. As expected, sexual sadism and other paraphilia did not result in higher nonsexual violent recidivism rates. However, higher scores in the SVR-20 predicted higher rates of nonsexual violent reoffenses. Higher combined rates of any violent recidivism were associated with factors reflecting age. Data were collected from forensic psychiatric reports on 166 sexual homicide perpetrators in Germany and followup information about release and reconvictions from Federal criminal records. Tables, notes, references